Category Archives: Construction

Today is the day we no longer need to imagine the observation made by policymakers in the recent debates on transportation revenue – if you don’t think the MBTA is important to riders and non-riders alike, consider the Boston metropolitan area without it. Today, despite well plowed roads and reasonable weather, the region is at a standstill because the T has cancelled rail service due to the unprecedented storms.… More

This summer, roadway construction season will not be interrupted after all, as Congress passed another “patch” to the Highway Trust Fund to take us up to May of 2015. But how do we expect the U.S. DOT to plan and implement a long-term infrastructure investment program for our nation with nine-month term funding authorizations, after which no funds can be spent without another act of Congress? How can the states rely on the Federal government as partner and make commitments to address their multi-billion capital maintenance and investment needs with these short-term funding extensions and no long-term resolution or direction in sight?… More

As nearly every media outlet in America has reported, the Congress last night approved a $10.8 billion transportation bill that will pay for highway and transit projects for the next nine months. It’s good news, sure. In practical terms, it means that transportation funding will continue to flow past today’s deadline. That matters to anyone interested in a project that is funded with Federal monies, and in Massachusetts,… More

Labor Day weekend marks the end of what for some will be remembered as the summer that brought net new revenue to the Commonwealth’s transportation system. Others see it as the logical end of the reform effort. Still others will focus on the begining of a new phase of transportation debate – with the rivarlies and lack of funding put aside (for now), let’s discuss what gets fixed and what gets built and why. … More

Traditional hard-bid, design-bid-build contracting became difficult to resist for many owners during the Great Recession, when hungry firms submitted low bids to keep busy. The alternative delivery market fell sharply as a result,… More

The United States Supreme Court recently heard arguments in Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, the most significant regulatory takings case that has been before the Court in several years. Koontz wanted to develop his land. Florida law required that, to do so as proposed, he offset any harm to protected wetlands on his property by either revising his development proposal to reduce its overall environmental impact or mitigating any remaining harm through creating,… More

In late 2012, McGraw-Hill Construction (MHC) released its forecast for the U.S. construction industry in 2013 and its outlook was generally positive. MHC predicted a 6% overall increase in construction starts, slightly better than the estimated 5% increase in 2012 although still not enough to bring the industry within shouting distance of pre-recession highs. The expected areas of growth are in housing and private nonresidential building, with institutional building and public works continuing to drag. … More

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Kevin Conroy is a partner in the firm's Administrative Law Department, where he maintains a regulatory and government investigations practice with a primary focus on the health care and energy sectors. More

Tad Heuer’s practice focuses on advising both private and public sector clients in two main areas: the development of government strategies at the federal, state and local levels, and on matters pertaining to real estate, permitting and land use development. More